Al-Qaeda arm in Syria executes 14 ‘pro-government forces’

The al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front has executed 14 captives it accused of fighting for the Syrian government in retaliation against army gains near the capital, Damascus.

The terrorist group released a video on its social media accounts on Thursday that showed 14 men kneeling in front of Takfiri Nusra militants and stating their names before being shot in the head.

A text on the video read that the executions were meant to avenge a recent attack by Syrian forces on Harira Village in Wadi Barada in the southwestern Qalamun region.

Wadi Barada is mostly controlled by different Takfiri militant groups, including the al-Nusra Front.

The militants had threatened in a previous video that they would kill the captives if the Syrian military and its allies enter Harira.

The Nusra Front has a record of executing government forces in the face of the losses it suffers on the battlefield.

Last September, 56 such Syrian forces were executed at a military airport in the northwestern Idlib province.

The terror group is excluded, along with Daesh terrorists, from a UN-backed ceasefire holding across Syria since February.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict that has gripped Syria for over five years now. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures that it receives from various sources.